Switchboard, from NRDC › Andrew Wetzler's Blogtag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//502015-07-10T16:12:00ZMovable Type Pro 6.0.7UN's World Heritage Committee Agrees to Examine Plight of Monarch Migrationtag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.186862015-07-02T16:01:32Z2015-07-10T16:12:00ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p><em style="line-height: 1.62;">The following is a guest blog by NRDC Senior Attorney Rebeca Riley</em></p>
<p>I'm writing from Bonn, Germany with good news: the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will start looking into the plight of the monarch butterflies that spend every winter in Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. For the first time, the Committee asked the United States and Canada to inform on their actions on monarch conservation. NRDC's incredible community is a big reason why the decline of the monarch population is receiving this critical international attention. I'm proud to say that I delivered more than 50,000 <a href="https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=3753">petition</a> messages from NRDC supporters asking the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to take action to protect monarch butterflies. <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/07/Rebecca%20at%20UNESCO-20483.html" onclick="window.open('http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/07/Rebecca%20at%20UNESCO-20483.html','popup','width=1944,height=2593,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/07/Rebecca%20at%20UNESCO-thumb-autox346-20483.jpg" width="260" height="346" alt="Rebecca at UNESCO" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Earlier this year, NRDC and other <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/cherrera/protecting_the_monarch_butterf.html">partner groups</a> submitted a <a href="http://docs.nrdc.org/wildlife/wil_15040901.asp">petition </a>to the World Heritage Committee showing how the 90 percent decline in the monarch population in the reserve in central Mexico over the past 20 years was due largely to the skyrocketing use of the herbicide glyphosate in the United States and Canada. Glyphosate wipes out milkweed, the only plant on which monarch butterflies lay their eggs. The petition detailed how the plummeting butterfly numbers meant the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico should be included on the "World Heritage in Danger List." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Before any final determination on an "in danger" listing can be made, a series of meetings and documents will need to be produced and provided to UNESCO. For the first time since the Reserve was designated a World Heritage Site, UNESCO requested that the United States and Canada join Mexico in producing a report on what's being done to protect the migration. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>This is good news for the monarchs because, as we know, the United States is not doing nearly enough, and the government needs to hear this from more and more people and institutions around the world. The petition we submitted asked the World Heritage Committee to help spur recognition that more needs to be done to preserve the incredible natural wonder of millions of monarch butterflies descending on the forest reserve in Mexico. To save the iconic and mysterious monarch migration, the United States and Canada must act immediately to protect the monarchs' milkweed breeding habitat by limiting glyphosate use, and promoting programs to restore milkweed.<a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/07/Monarch-20486.html" onclick="window.open('http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/07/Monarch-20486.html','popup','width=325,height=245,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/07/Monarch-thumb-325x244-20486.jpg" width="325" height="244" alt="Monarch.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>As parties to the World Heritage Convention, the United States and Canada have committed to help protect World Heritage sites and to avoid actions that might directly or indirectly damage sites located in other countries. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee cannot force a country to act, but it can marshal international attention to the Heritage sites and recommend "corrective measures" to ensure the conservation of a site. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The UNESCO process is quite long, but it is critically important to maintaining and securing more international support for protecting the migrating monarch population. We'll be back in touch with updates as the process moves along. <o:p></o:p></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/QiIx7wBRiBE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/uns_world_heritage_committee_a.html"Each creature has its own purpose" -- Pope Francis on the moral imperative to preserve biodiversity during the Sixth Extinctiontag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.186232015-06-22T19:41:00Z2015-06-23T14:41:42ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/06/chipmunk%20%28Frank%20Vassen%29%20%28creative%20commons%29-20268.html" onclick="window.open('http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/06/chipmunk%20%28Frank%20Vassen%29%20%28creative%20commons%29-20268.html','popup','width=640,height=481,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/06/chipmunk%20%28Frank%20Vassen%29%20%28creative%20commons%29-thumb-475xauto-20268.jpg" width="475" height="356" alt="chipmunk (Frank Vassen) (creative commons)" class="mt-image-right" style="margin: 0px auto 20px; display: block;" /></a></p>
<p>Last week, just about the same time that Pope Francis released a groundbreaking <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html">Encyclical</a> outlining the Catholic Church's teaching on protecting the natural world, a team of scientists released sobering <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253">report</a> of their own. Concluding that "the average rate of vertebrate species loss over the last century is up to 114 times higher than the background rate," the authors warned in a study published in the journal <i>Science Advances</i>, that "these estimates reveal an exceptionally rapid loss of biodiversity over the last few centuries, indicating that a sixth mass extinction* is already under way." Reading both documents together was a helpful reminder of why I work in conservation.</p>
<p>Too often environmental issues get caught up in the maelstrom of politics and policy. But at its root, conserving the earth is more about values and responsibilities than it is about cost-benefit analyses and legal disputes. Pope Francis' encyclical was a helpful tonic -- a reminder, to me at least, that what animates the environmental movement, as it does all great social movements, is a moral call to action. And last week's study reminded me that nowhere is that call to action more clear than when it comes to saving the life around us.</p>
<p>Again and again in his Encyclical, the Pope emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things. Drawing from ecology and the other sciences, the Pope concludes that "living species are part of a network which we will never fully explore and understand." Not only does the Pope emphasize the many practical benefits that these networks provide humanity, but their very existence also forms part of the moral case for keeping the rich array of plants and animals intact: "Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another."</p>
<p>But the Pope does not stop with a call to preserve ecological systems. He also focuses on the inherent value of individual living beings. Citing biblical passages and Christian traditions that stress the inclusion of other animals in the moral threads that knit a community together (did you know, for example, that <i>Exodus</i> requires domesticated animals to be given a rest on the Sabbath?), the Pope comes to a remarkable conclusion:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. ...The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival, which is God.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet as last week's study reveals, humankind is depriving whole species from fulfilling their purpose, not only ecologically but, if one is moved by the Pope's teaching, spiritually as well. Extinction, unlike so many of the other ills that afflict our earth (even climate change) cannot be reversed. Humanity needs to do all it can to limit the damage we've done and save as many creatures as possible: for their sake.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>* There are thought to have been five previous "mass extinction" events in the Earth's history, which is generally defined as a widespread and rapid decrease in the diversity and abundance of macroscopic life. The last mass extinction led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/4SCN6TBPMQo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/each_creature_has_its_own_purp.htmlNo Birds For You! House Passes Provision to End All Migratory Bird Protections in the United States (UPDATED)tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.185362015-06-04T16:34:00Z2015-06-11T13:32:37ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/carolina%20chickadee%20%28photo%20courtesy%20of%20Dan%20Pancamo%29.jpg"><img alt="Carolina chickadee (photo courtesy of Dan Pancamo)" src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/06/carolina%20chickadee%20%28photo%20courtesy%20of%20Dan%20Pancamo%29-thumb-500xauto-19997.jpg" width="500" height="375" class="mt-image-none" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Spring is finally here, and with it the return of birds to backyards and playgrounds across America. So, naturally, it is also the perfect time for Congressional Republicans to completely suspend one of the main laws protecting them.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">First passed in 1918, the <a href="http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/regulationspolicies/mbta/mbtintro.html">Migratory Bird Treaty Act</a> is one of America's original conservation laws. It protects <a href="http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/regulationspolicies/mbta/MBTANDX.HTML">familiar visitors</a> like cardinals and chickadees; raptors such as bald eagles and prairie falcons, and, of course, the many ducks and other waterfowl that sportsmen treasure.</p>
<p>Last night, <del datetime="2015-06-05T13:44:29-05:00">reportedly</del> without a recorded vote, the House of Representatives <del datetime="2015-06-05T13:44:50-05:00">Commerce, Justice, Science Committee</del> included a rider, offered by <a href="http://jeffduncan.house.gov/">Congressman Duncan</a> (R-SC), in the Department of Commerce's and Department of Justice's budget appropriations bill that would prohibit the federal government from prosecuting anyone from violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. <a href="http://repcloakroom.house.gov/uploadedfiles/cjs16duncan-sc.pdf">Here</a> is the exact language:</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/MBTA%20Rider.png"><img alt="MBTA Rider" src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/06/MBTA%20Rider-thumb-400xauto-20005.png" width="400" height="259" class="mt-image-none" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Yep, forget the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (without the possibility of enforcement, laws don't mean much, do they?). If Representative Duncan gets his way it's open season for birds across the country. Because, really, who needs hummingbirds or eagles?</span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 1.62;"><strong>UPDATE:</strong><strong> </strong>My original post was mistaken. This amendment was, in fact, added to the appropriations bill by the <em>entire</em> House on a voice vote. It's now up to the Senate and the President to prevent this provision from becoming law.<br /></span></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/IGWQRPBqySg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/no_birds_for_you_house_committ.html"Is this earth just for us?" NRDC film Wild Things Premieres on cable TVtag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.184042015-05-08T19:33:00Z2015-05-14T03:24:21ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>Every time I watch the closing scene in <a href="http://www.wildthingsmovie.org/"><i>Wild Things</i></a>, the NRDC documentary about USDA's Wildlife Services program, I choke up. Every time. Doug Smith, leader of Yellowstone National Park's Gray Wolf Restoration Project, is framed against a Wyoming forest. He fixes his eyes on the camera and asks, simply:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do we want to live in a world where it's just all about us? You know: no mystery, nothing out there that's outside of our control. Is this earth just for us to take over? Or do we share it?</p>
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<p>It's a moment that captures why I've chosen to devote my career to conservation, and it's a call-to-action that I'm eager to share with as many people as possible. That's why I'm so pleased that <i>Wild Things</i> will have its cable television premiere on Pivot TV on May 13 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.</p>
<p><i>Wild Things</i> isn't just about the USDA's Wildlife Services Program -- a hundred-year-old agency, formally known as "Animal Damage Control," that played a large role in exterminating gray wolves from the lower-48 states in the 1920s and 30s, and still kills nearly 100,000 native predators such as mountain lions, coyotes, black bears and (yes) wolves every year. It's not just a film about how wasteful the agency is, <a href="http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/prog_data/2014/A/Tables/PDR_Table_A.pdf">spending</a> over $100 million dollars a year<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> to carry out its killing program. It's also about a different way of living with native animals on a working landscape. It's about ranchers from California to Alberta to Montana who have found that using guard dogs, electric fences, and other techniques is a better path than always picking up a gun or setting a trap line. In short, it's a movie about hope.</span></p>
<p>After years of advocacy by NRDC and our partners, Wildlife Services is finally being audited by the USDA's Inspector General, an independent watchdog within the Agency. I hope that the results will put Wildlife Services down a path to reform and that, in the end, Doug Smith's words will be proven right: we will decide to share the earth.</p>
<p>To find your Pivot TV channel, visit: <a href="http://www.pivot.tv/interstitial/channelFinder">www.pivot.tv/interstitial/channelFinder</a> (you can take action at <a href="http://www.wildthingsmovie.org/">www.wildthingsmovie.org</a>).</p>
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<iframe width="551" height="334" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ImI_DmzKqY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><em>Andrew Wetzler is Director of the Land &amp; Wildlife Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council</em></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/MzGIgkYp3sc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/is_this_earth_just_for_us_nrdc.htmlDespite its Critics, China Takes an Important Step to Curb the Ivory Tradetag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.182032015-03-31T13:16:26Z2015-05-04T00:23:24ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>A month ago, on the eve of a visit by Prince William and in the face of continued poaching of elephants throughout Africa, China made an <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31648475">announcement</a>: for the next year it would ban the import of all ivory carvings. The one-year ban was formally confirmed a week later and official <a href="http://cites.org/sites/default/files/notif/E-Notif-2015-011.pdf">notice</a> of the Chinese decision was distributed to all parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>Several conservation groups were less than enthusiastic about China's move, some <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/world/asia/china-bans-import-of-ivory-carvings-for-one-year.html?_r=0">calling</a> it nothing more than "window dressing." We disagree.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>To be sure, banning the import of carved ivory will not solve the problems created by China's domestic ivory market, which is driven by high demand for ivory and supplied, in part, by the release of raw ivory from government stockpiles. But the fact that any sort of ban was put in place should not be underestimated.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>China's announcement was the first recognition by the government that restricting the legal trade in ivory products may be needed to save the world's elephant populations. Indeed, just last week, China <a href="http://www.ecns.cn/2015/03-25/159325.shtml">announced</a> that it would be taking further management steps to conserve elephants. The statement, made at the International Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in Kasane, Botswana, is another sign that China has recognized that reform of its ivory regulations is needed.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>Moreover, a quick analysis of reported ivory imports into China over the last few years suggests that China's import ban could be a more important on-the-ground step than is supposed. To understand the practical effect of China's new ban, you first need to understand that, in g<span style="line-height: 1.62;">eneral, CITES allows international trade in protected species for what it deems to be "non-commercial" purposes. That is, the global "ivory trade ban" only really applies to trade</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> for commercial purposes, meaning exports and imports for the express reason of selling those go</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;">od</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;">s in the marketplace.</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Bringing a specimen from a CITES-listed plant or animal with you when yo</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;">u move from one country to another, or </span><span style="line-height: 1.62;">bringing home a small keepsake from a vacation, or hunting an animal and bringing home the taxidermied carcass - these are all considered "non-commercial" purposes for trade, and are more or less OK under CITES rules. And this exception allows quite a bit of ivory to move, legally, though the world market in small and not-so-small amounts. "Non-commercial" trade in ivory carvings is also specifically allowed from Namibia and Zimbabwe under CITES rules.</span></p>
<p>According to <a href="http://trade.cites.org/">CITES data</a>, thousands of kilograms (or many tons) of ivory are being imported into China as "hunting trophies" or as "personal effects," like tourist souvenirs. Some instances of trade are fairly clearly legitimate - one ivory carving here, a few grams of cut ivory there - but others are much more suspect. And, the vast majority of imports are coded "W," meaning they are sourced from wild elephants, and are mostly from one country: Zimbabwe.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/NRDC%20elephant%20image.jpg"><img alt="elephants" src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/03/NRDC%20elephant%20image-thumb-315x190-19107.jpg" width="315" height="190" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /></a></span></p>
<p>CITES trade records aren't kept in a standardized unit of measurement (some are by weight, some are by number if specimens, etc.) so it's hard to quantify exactly how much ivory is being imported into China legally. But some reports are given by weight, and some of those weights are fairly staggering. One record was for more than 3,000 kg of ivory carvings imported to China from Zimbabwe. Now what would someone do with 3 metric tons of ivory trinkets? If we can say an average tusk weighs 50 kilograms, then that's about 40 tusks, <i>roughly 30 elephants</i>, all coded as "personal effects." <span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>If any of this ivory is making it's way into commerce, then it becomes illegal ivory trade in China and part of the problem. Thus, the new ban could be a way for China to fill a gap in enforcement and choke off one potential method of supplying illegal markets with ivory.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>Much more work must be done in China, the United States, Europe, and around the world to end the poaching crisis. This includes targeted and effective efforts to change ivory purchasing behaviors among consumers, as many of our conservation colleagues have noted. But revising the law and regulations that governs ivory sales is also a crucial part of the solution. China's ban on carved ivory imports is a good step in the right direction, and the announcement that it will take further management actions is another important sign of progress to come.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/RZx8ejcoONg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/despite_its_critics_china_take.htmlThe California Gnatcatcher, Big Polluters, and Undisclosed Scientific Funding -- It's Not Just Climate Skepticstag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.180382015-02-25T22:00:00Z2015-02-26T13:20:13ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/02/coastal%20California%20gnatcatcher%20%28USFWS%29-18735.html" onclick="window.open('http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/02/coastal%20California%20gnatcatcher%20%28USFWS%29-18735.html','popup','width=518,height=320,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/02/coastal%20California%20gnatcatcher%20%28USFWS%29-thumb-500xauto-18735.jpg" width="500" height="307" alt="coastal California gnatcatcher (USFWS)" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a></p>
<p>Transparency and conflicts of interest in science have been in the papers a lot this week, after a lengthy <i>New York Times</i> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html?_r=0">article</a> revealed that one of the nation's leading climate skeptics accepted more than a million dollars in funding from the fossil fuel industry -- allegedly without fully disclosing these funds in the Journals that published his work. The report has caused quite a <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/23022015/scientific-journals-alerted-fossil-fuel-funding-contrarian-climate-studies">fuss</a>, and rightly so. Knowing who pays for scientific studies is important for understanding why those studies are being published, who is helping to select the hypotheses that get tested, and can alert readers to hidden biases. It's the kind of basic disclosure that's demanded in many professions, and should be particularly required of scientists, who many consider to be objective sources of information.</p>
<p>Climate science is far from the only environmental issue where this lack of full disclosure is a problem. For a great - and recent - example, take the coastal California gnatcatcher, a threatened subspecies of the California gnatcatcher found in Baja.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/speciesProfile.action?spcode=B08X">coastal California gnatcatcher</a> is a small dusky-gray bird, whose call sounds like a kitten ... and happens to sit on top of some of the most valuable real estate in the world. And that makes it the bête noir of developers across Southern California. Home builders, toll road agencies, and even the U.S. Navy, have all fought federal protections for the gnatcatcher. As my colleague Sylvia Fallon <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sfallon/strike_two_developers_second_s.html">points out</a>, recently some of these groups filed a petition (the second in four years) claiming that the coastal California gnatcatcher isn't actually a valid subspecies at all, and therefore doesn't qualify for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The evidence used to support this petition is a <a href="http://www.aoucospubs.org/doi/full/10.1525/auk.2013.12241">study </a>of gnatcatcher's genetic structure published in July 2013 in <i>the Auk</i>, a scientific journal. The study, by the way, is <a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1642/AUK-14-184.1">highly questionable</a>. Beyond its substantive problems, the study includes this "acknowledgement" section:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We thank A. T. Peterson and D. Shepard for assistance with niche modeling, M. Westberg for performing laboratory work, <b>and R. Thornton for securing funding</b>. S. M. Lanyon, S. J. Weller, J. L. Atwood, K. Oberhauser, and D. Alstad commented on the manuscript. (emphasis added)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sounds innocent enough, huh? Unless, of course, you know that "R. Thornton" is none other than <a href="http://www.nossaman.com/showprofessional.aspx?Show=401">Robert D. Thornton</a>, a partner in the law firm of Nossaman LLP. Nossaman happens to represent the National Association of Home Builders, the California Building Industry Association, and the Transportation Corridors Agency, among others. Robert Thornton is, in fact, the attorney who filed the petition to delist the gnatcatcher.</p>
<p>Now, I've known Robert for years. He is an able lawyer and there is nothing wrong with him filing that petition, or funding a scientific study that he thinks will be useful in advocating against protecting an endangered species on behalf of his developer clients. But when the author of that paper fails to disclose that connection? That I have a problem with -- whether it is a climate skeptic or a geneticist. If you're getting your money from Big Polluters, we deserve to know.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/CXKppeeqD0M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/the_california_gnatcatcher_big.htmlProposed Budget Would Cut Funding for Wildlife Servicestag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.180222015-02-20T17:08:04Z2015-02-28T03:13:08ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2011/11/Wildlife Services coyote control (USDA)-4416.html" onclick="window.open('http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2011/11/Wildlife Services coyote control (USDA)-4416.html','popup','width=873,height=603,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2011/11/Wildlife%20Services%20coyote%20control%20%28USDA%29-thumb-500xauto-4416.jpg" width="500" height="344" alt="Wildlife Services coyote control (USDA)" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a></p>
<p>The Obama Administration recently announced its proposed budget for fiscal year 2016. The President's budget would cut about <a href="http://www.obpa.usda.gov/budsum/fy16budsum.pdf">$10 million</a> from Wildlife Service's "wildlife damage management" <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/wolves/predatorcontrol.asp">program</a>. This could be great news for wildlife--especially native carnivores.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/wildlifedamage" style="line-height: 1.62;">Wildlife Services</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> is a little-known agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture whose legal mandate is to resolve "wildlife damage" -- i.e., conflicts between people and their property, and wildlife. When it comes to conflicts with animals like bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats, by "resolve", Wildlife Services almost always means "kill." There is nothing in that mandate requiring the agency to use lethal means. In fact, a wide range of effective nonlethal strategies exist to respond to most conflict situations. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.62;">But, as we've pointed out </span><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/mwaage/torturing_statistics_wildlife.html" style="line-height: 1.62;">before</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">, despite the agency's spin to the contrary, 98% of the time Wildlife Services attempts to protect livestock from predators it relies on lethal "control" measures such as traps, snares and poisons to respond to conflicts -- real or imagined.</span><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>This is problematic because lethal measures are not long term solutions. Killing predators one year often just means having to kill more the next, when nearby populations inevitably recolonize the area. The result is an endless cycle of killing -- and spending -- that may even <a href="http://www.predatordefense.org/docs/coyotes_letter_Dr_Crabtree_06-21-12.pdf">increase conflicts</a>, rather than solve them. To make matters worse, many of the lethal measures used by Wildlife Services are indiscriminate, meaning they sometimes kill or injure "non-target" animals -- animals they were not intended for -- including threatened and endangered species.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>The agency itself has done a <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/fuzzy-math-paper.asp">totally inadequate</a> job studying the costs and benefits of their killing program.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>In recent years, about a quarter of Wildlife Services' wildlife damage budget has been used to respond to livestock-predator conflicts. Because this is largely a lethal program, a reduction in funding would likely mean a reduction in the killing of a wide range of species--target and non-target -- from mountains lions to moose to otters to eagles.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>In an ideal world, these budget cuts would be unnecessary: Instead, Wildlife Services' could redirect its funding used to help ranchers pay for and implement nonlethal tools such as electric fences, guard dogs, and riders who monitor livestock on the range. We would see Wildlife Services providing more training and information through workshops like those recently held in <a href="http://union-bulletin.com/news/2014/jul/29/workshop-non-lethal-wolf-management/">Oregon</a> and <a href="http://www.theprairiestar.com/news/regional/first-non-lethal-predator-damage-management-workshop-to-be-held/article_256cd538-87a2-11e4-a4a8-67381c198254.html">Montana</a>. We would see a more proactive and ecologically-focused public agency using cutting-edge technology to prevent conflicts from occurring in the first place--rather than a reactive, industry-oriented business using indiscriminate traps and poisons from a bygone era.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>That day may come. In the meantime, however, less money for Wildlife Services' lethal control program likely means less damage inflicted on wildlife and the ecosystems that rely on them. And that's a good thing.</p>
<p>==</p>
<p><em>Image: Wildilfe Services agent enaged in coyote control (source: USDA).</em></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/lJN6fXktWWg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/proposed_budget_would_cut_fund.htmlPermission to Play in the Dirt: DePaul Art Museum Illuminates the Beauty of Decaytag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.179342015-01-30T23:57:10Z2015-02-06T15:01:42ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>Turn on a TV or open a magazine and chances are you'll see <a href="http://ispot.tv/a/7d5O">messages</a> deriding dirt as a nuisance, a mess, and even dangerous to our health. But we neglect dirt at our peril.</p>
<p><i style="line-height: 1.62;">Rooted in Soil</i><span style="line-height: 1.62;">, a brand new exhibition at the </span><a href="http://museums.depaul.edu/" style="line-height: 1.62;">DePaul Art Museum</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">, remind us of the ways soil matters. Our early </span><a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/genesis/3-19.html" style="line-height: 1.62;">wisdom</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> knew it: "For dust you are and to dust you will return;" but in a sanitized age, it's a truth we often need to remember. </span><i style="line-height: 1.62;">Rooted in Soil</i><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> provides a perfect antidote, starkly reminding us through the works of artists such as </span><a href="http://sallymann.com/wp-content/gallery/body-farm/Sally_Mann_Body_Farm_BW_04.jpg" style="line-height: 1.62;">Sally Mann</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">, </span><a href="http://samtaylorjohnson.com/moving-image/art/still-life-2001" style="line-height: 1.62;">Sam Taylor-Johnson</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> (and a beautiful apothecary of compost by </span><a href="http://www.publicamateur.org/?page_id=6" style="line-height: 1.62;">Claire Pentecost</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">), of the essential role that decay plays not only in our own lives, but in nature.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.62;">NRDC's Artist-in-Residence, </span><a href="http://www.jennykendler.com/" style="line-height: 1.62;">Jenny Kendler</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">, is also featured prominently in the show, as is Vaughn Bell, a Seattle-based artist that NRDC showcased in our booth during the 2013 iteration of </span><a href="http://www.expochicago.com/" style="line-height: 1.62;">EXPO CHICAGO</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Jenny has been working in the Land and Wildlife Program at NRDC since April 2014, helping our lawyers, scientists and policy advocates animate environmental issues through her practice. Jenny's series "New Way to See I &amp; II" transforms classical sculptural forms by replacing the eyes with lichen, a colorful organism that emerges from a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungus. Lichen plays an important role in soil formation and is an exceptional bio-indicator of air quality. </span><i style="line-height: 1.62;">Rooted in Soil</i><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> also features two small mock-ups of life-sized statuaries that will be eventually be placed in Chicago's parks. The statutes, which are composed of seeds and other natural materials, we decay when exposed to the elements, gradually transforming from human-made form to flower garden, mirroring what Jenny hopes is our changing relation to nature itself.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Jenny's work, as well as that of the other talented artists featured in the exhibition, underscore the important and often overlooked role that dirt, dust and soil plays in our environment and in our lives. But most of all, the show, which is co-curated by </span><a href="http://www.smcvt.edu/Pages/Get-to-Know-Us/Faculty/fatemi-farrah.aspx" style="line-height: 1.62;">Farrah Fatemi</a><span style="line-height: 1.62;">, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences at St. Michael's college, reminds us of how collaborations between environmental experts, artists, and cultural institutions, an lead to an unexpected and often disarming appreciation role that the natural world plays in our everyday life. And that, in the end, is what NRDC's Artists-in-Residence program is all about.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.62;">Make time to play in the dirt and visit the DePaul Art Museum</span><i style="line-height: 1.62;">. Rooted in Soil</i><span style="line-height: 1.62;"> will be on view through April 26, 2015.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/Kendler%2C%20New%20Ways%20to%20See%20I%20%26%20II%20%28courtesy%20of%20the%20artist%29.jpg"><img alt="Kendler, New Ways to See I &amp; II (courtesy of the artist)" src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/01/Kendler%2C%20New%20Ways%20to%20See%20I%20%26%20II%20%28courtesy%20of%20the%20artist%29-thumb-392x245-18522.jpg" width="392" height="245" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /></a></p>
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<p><em>Special thanks to Elizabeth Corr, NRDC's Manager of Arts Partnerships, for helping with this post</em></p>
<p></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/zXMYownnPbA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/permission_to_play_in_the_dirt.htmlThree Cheers for Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham: Senators' New Bill Would Bring the Hammer Down On Wildlife Traffickerstag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2015:/blogs/awetzler//50.179072015-01-27T15:50:08Z2015-01-29T22:48:13ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/01/elephant%20family%20%28photograph%20by%20Elly%20Pepper%29-18480.html" onclick="window.open('http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/01/elephant%20family%20%28photograph%20by%20Elly%20Pepper%29-18480.html','popup','width=2048,height=1537,scrollbars=yes,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2015/01/elephant%20family%20%28photograph%20by%20Elly%20Pepper%29-thumb-500xauto-18480.jpg" width="590" height="415" alt="elephant family (photograph by Elly Pepper)" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a></p>
<p>One of the biggest obstacles to ending the illegal wildlife trade is weak penalties. The United States is a prime example. As the value of wildlife products has skyrocketed, low fines and minimal prison sentences under federal law make it increasingly worth the risk for wildlife traffickers, who stand to gain millions in illegal profits.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>That's why Senator <span class="st">Dianne </span>Feinstein's (D-CA) <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c114:S.27:">Wildlife Trafficking Enforcement Act (S. 27)</a>, co-sponsored by Senator <span class="st">Lindsey Graham </span>(R-SC), would make such a big difference. S. 27 makes egregious criminal violations (defined as those involving more than $10,000 in wildlife products) of the Endangered Species Act, the African Elephant Conservation Act, and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act predicate offenses under racketeering and money laundering statutes. In other words, it treats wildlife trafficking for what it is: organized crime, no different than narcotics trafficking or wire fraud.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>Currently, violations of wildlife trafficking laws result in small fines and/or six to twelve months in prison--a mere slap on the wrist when you consider the kind of money involved. But S. 27 creates penalties of up to twenty years imprisonment and up to $500,000 in fines. The bill also requires that the fines, forfeitures, and restitution paid by traffickers go to a wildlife conservation fund created , which would help a vast array of species.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>By strengthening penalties, S. 27 will deter criminals from trafficking. It will also encourage law enforcement and prosecution to pursue wildlife trafficking crimes. Finally, it will show the world that the United States is serious about combating wildlife poaching by equating wildlife tracking offenses in line with other serious organized crime. For these reasons, S. 27 is broadly supported by groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund, Humane Society of the United States, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.<span style="line-height: 1.62;"> </span></p>
<p>As shown in a <a href="http://docs.nrdc.org/wildlife/files/wil_15010601a.pdf">recent survey</a> of California's ivory market commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the United States has a big problem when it comes to illegal ivory. S. 27 would help to end that market and our country's contribution to the illegal wildlife trade.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/nkiGeX12ppg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/three_cheers_for_dianne_feinst.htmlChicago's Violet Hour is covered in native flowers to remember and restore our prairies tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2014:/blogs/awetzler//50.176302014-11-10T15:00:00Z2014-11-10T15:21:55ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/North_prairie_camas_and_buttercup_flowers_in_grass_on_field.jpg"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2014/11/North_prairie_camas_and_buttercup_flowers_in_grass_on_field-thumb-500x375-17872.jpg" alt="North_prairie_camas_and_buttercup_flowers_in_grass_on_field.jpg" width="500" height="375" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a></p>
<p>Turn on a random nature show and you&rsquo;re likely to see a rainforest or, perhaps, a mountain range, or a shot of the Arctic tundra.&nbsp; What you most likely will not see is a prairie.&nbsp; That&rsquo;s too bad, because prairies are truly magnificent landscapes. <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20110213055206/http:/etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=WhiPro1.sgm&amp;images=images/modeng&amp;data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&amp;tag=public&amp;part=194&amp;division=div2">Walt Whitman</a> knew:&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"while I know the standard claim is that Yosemite, Niagara Falls, the Upper Yellowstone, and the like afford the greatest natural shows, I am not so sure but the prairies and plains, while less stunning at first sight, last longer, fill the esthetic sense fuller, precede all the rest, and make North America&rsquo;s characteristic landscape&hellip;they silently and broadly unfolded. Even their simplest statistics are sublime."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They are also some of the most endangered landscapes in all of North America.&nbsp; Prairies--flat, verdant, accessible--have largely been displaced by corn, soybeans, and wheat; by cities and their sprawling suburbs; and all manner of industrial development.&nbsp; In many <a href="http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/prairierestoration/index.html">parts</a> of the Midwest, 98% of native prairies are gone.</p>
<p>As our prairies have disappeared so too have the native grasses and flowers that called them home, along with the birds, buffalo, and insects that used to decorate America&rsquo;s great, flat, middle.&nbsp; Knitting together these landscapes were armies of pollinators -- native bumble bees, monarchs and other butterflies, hummingbirds -- helping to fertilize the plains and ensure the health of the land.&nbsp; To add insult to injury, the industrial farms that stands where our prairies once did is now planted with genetically modified crops, designed to withstand torrents of pesticides, which kill those pollinators that remain.&nbsp;&nbsp; The vanishing of these pollinating insects is just one reason that NRDC has <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sfallon/epa_approves_new_pesticide_com.html">filed</a> legal action to stop the spread of these pesticides and is <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sfallon/managing_our_highways_for_butt.html">partnering</a> with groups like Monarch Watch to plant native milkweed throughout the country.</p>
<p>Still, many beautiful patches of prairies remain, as do the pollinating animals that keep them whole.&nbsp; And some of them, like the <a href="http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/midewin/home">Midewin Tallgrass Prairie</a>, just outside of Chicago, offer a glimpse of these magnificent landscapes.</p>
<p>Closer to home, Chicagoans will have a chance to remember the prairie -- and the bees and butterflies that call them home.&nbsp; In <em>A Place of Light and Wind (for Lost Prairies</em>), NRDC Artist-in-Resident, Jenny Kendler, will transform the fa&ccedil;ade of the <a href="http://theviolethour.com/">Violet Hour</a>, one of Chicago most popular bars, into an urban prairie ecosystem replete with native Illinois flowers. Hidden within the mural are a variety of pollinators embellished with QR codes, which take visitors to a <a href="http://jennykendler.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=9502816e32e0b70274d00d61f&amp;id=3c7f016270">website</a> where they can sign up to receive their own native prairie seeds in the mail, helping to bring a little bit of our lost prairies back to the yards of&nbsp; Chicago, while also creating personal connections to a disappearing ecosystem. &nbsp;That&rsquo;s the wonderful thing about nature -- restoring it sometimes is as simple as planting a seed.</p>
<p>So, Chicago, stop by the Violet Hour during the months of November and December, hoist a glass, and remember America&rsquo;s prairies.&nbsp; The rest is up to you.</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/Prairie%20Postcard.jpg"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2014/11/Prairie Postcard-thumb-500x365-17871.jpg" alt="Prairie Postcard.jpg" width="500" height="365" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a></p>
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<a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?a=iyoe9_F_viQ:3akCX1SdQq4:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?a=iyoe9_F_viQ:3akCX1SdQq4:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?a=iyoe9_F_viQ:3akCX1SdQq4:bcOpcFrp8Mo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?d=bcOpcFrp8Mo" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/iyoe9_F_viQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/chicagos_violet_hour_is_covere.htmlTell it to the Birds: Confession and the Nature of Changetag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2014:/blogs/awetzler//50.174142014-09-19T15:48:20Z2014-09-19T19:23:52ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>Last night I had the opportunity to experience a new installation by NRDC artist-in-residence, <a href="http://jennykendler.com/home.html">Jenny Kendler</a>, at the opening of <a href="http://www.expochicago.com/">EXPO Chicago</a>. The piece, &ldquo;Tell it to the Birds,&rdquo; asks participants to enter a beautiful small dome, where they sit on a stool and speak into a lichen-trimmed microphone. A computer program takes their words and &ldquo;translates&rdquo; them into birdsong, which are broadcast out of the dome and into the gallery.&nbsp; No one but the speaker -- and the birds -- will ever know what was said. The birds are all endangered: threatened by climate change, habit destruction, livestock grazing, and oil and gas extraction. Perched on the walls surrounding the dome are delicate bird figurines, &ldquo;camouflaged&rdquo; by Kendler using strange glittering sc<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140908-birds-audubon-climate-change-extinction-science/"><img src="http://www.chicagoreader.com/imager/camouflage-v-ultra-deflector-for-endan/b/original/13754804/04ea/CamouflageV-600.jpg" width="335" height="196" align="right" /></a>i-fi shapes. Are they trying to hide from us?&nbsp; Or are they ashamed?</p>
<p>As it turns out, we all have a lot to confess to the natural world. We now live in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene">anthropocene</a>, the geologic epoch of man. A <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140908-birds-audubon-climate-change-extinction-science/">recent study</a> predicted that climate change will deprive nearly half of North American birds of most of the area they currently occupy by the end of the century. Hundreds of species may be driven to extinction. Watching the crowds filter in and out of the NRDC exhibit, and seeing the real delight that people had in entering&nbsp; Kendler&rsquo;s quiet dome to talk to the birds, made me think about the nature of confession, forgiveness, and change. NRDC is an advocacy group -- our battles are often fought in the courthouse, the halls of Congress, or in the back-and-forth of the scientific process -- but true social change is always cultural. Politics and laws are, at the end of the day, an expression of cultural mores and sensitivities. Without winning the cultural conversation, we can never win the war for our planet&rsquo;s future.</p>
<p>Next week, just as world leaders arrive for the UN Climate Summit, hundreds of thousands of people will converge in New York City for a <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/come_make_history_at_the_peopl.html">march</a> to the United Nations to demand global action on climate change. The night before the march, the United Nations will be <a href="https://www.thedodo.com/endangered-species-to-light-up-717442733.html">illuminated</a> by the image of endangered plants and animals, projected on its walls.</p>
<p>Artists ask us to enter into the world in a new way; to take our ordinary perspectives and set them down for a short while. That practice is part of the beginning of cultural and, I hope, political change. In less than a week, the Jewish holiday of <em>Rosh Hashanah</em> will begin. It is a holiday in which people are supposed to ask each other to forgive them for the wrongs, intentional and unintentional, that they committed the previous year. Gazing and Kendler&rsquo;s half-hidden birds and hearing their songs, many of which could soon disappear from the earth and which themselves masked the human words being spoken in secret, I thought about how we needed forgiveness for the natural world and felt more determined than ever to fight for it.</p>
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<a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?a=doqkBZA_zBw:WvOlukRETEk:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?a=doqkBZA_zBw:WvOlukRETEk:dnMXMwOfBR0"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?d=dnMXMwOfBR0" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://rss.nrdcfeeds.org/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?a=doqkBZA_zBw:WvOlukRETEk:bcOpcFrp8Mo"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/switchboard_awetzler?d=bcOpcFrp8Mo" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/doqkBZA_zBw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/tell_it_to_the_birds_confessio.htmlWhy the Secretary of Agriculture Is Right to Try to Close Idaho's Sheep Experiment Stationtag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2014:/blogs/awetzler//50.171282014-07-16T22:19:12Z2014-07-18T17:21:26ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>Conservation biology has long taught us that if we want to preserve the few truly wild places left in North America we must, to the greatest extent possible, connect them.&nbsp; Providing animals with easily accessible and relatively safe corridors and linkages between wild places allows them to travel freely, reestablish ancient migration patterns, replenish smaller populations with new blood, and adapt to new conditions, such as climate change.</p>
<p>So it was heartening to see the government take a major step to preserve one such linkage when Secretary Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would <a href="http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/environment/article_5811870c-fd89-11e3-8c78-0019bb2963f4.html">close</a> its &ldquo;Sheep Experiment Station,&rdquo; which grazes thousands of sheep a year on allotments in the Centennial Mountains, a narrow range of rugged mountains that connect the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with wild and remote portions of central Idaho.&nbsp; (You can see the mountains in the <a href="http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc97/proc97/to150/pap116/p116.htm">narrow band</a> of green and red, in this map). &nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2014/07/Richard Walker and Lance Craighead, Analyzing Wildlife Movement Corridors in Montana Using GIS-16751.html"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2014/07/Richard Walker and Lance Craighead, Analyzing Wildlife Movement Corridors in Montana Using GIS-thumb-225x164-16751.gif" alt="Richard Walker and Lance Craighead, Analyzing Wildlife Movement Corridors in Montana Using GIS.gif" title="Richard Walker and Lance Craighead, Analyzing Wildlife Movement Corridors in Montana Using GIS" width="228" height="166" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /></a>To put it mildly, sheep and wildlife corridors don&rsquo;t mix.&nbsp; Corridors are, by their nature, narrow, making it more likely that migrating animals will encounter any livestock grazed on them.&nbsp; And sheep, relatively defenseless animals (even compared to cows), are particular temptations for predators such as grizzly bears and wolves.&nbsp; Past conflicts with grizzly bears in these allotments are well-documented and entire wolf packs have been killed in the Centennials at the Sheep Station's behest. Domestic sheep are also a potent disease vector, able to spread deadly pneumonia to native bighorn sheep, which are present in the area, from miles away.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s why conservation groups have long called for the Sheep Station, which maintains a herd of over 3,000 sheep, to be closed.&nbsp; Sending thousands of sheep up into this vital linkage between Idaho and Yellowstone every year simply made no sense, particularly at taxpayer&rsquo;s expense.&nbsp; As Secretary Vilsack pointed out when he announced the closure of the sheep station, not only does the station no longer perform important research, its continued operations cost the taxpayers close to $2 million dollars a year.&nbsp; And I was heartened to see that the USDA will find jobs for most of the Sheep Station&rsquo;s employees at other facilities.</p>
<p>Predictably, though, the sheep industry -- long used to government largess and getting its way in Washington -- is <a href="http://www.bendbulletin.com/home/2200710-151/controversial-sheep-experiment-stations-closure-may-not-happen">pushing back furiously</a> on the closure announcement.&nbsp; In fact, just today a subcommittee in the U.S. House has moved to block the proposed closure. That&rsquo;s why Secretary Vilsak&rsquo;s decision to close the Sheep Station shows real leadership: it&rsquo;s always tough to close a federal facility, particularly when any agency does so against the wishes of one of its natural constituencies.&nbsp; So, please, take a moment and send Secretary Vilsak an email or a short note and thank him for his decision. Wolves, grizzly bears, and bighorn sheep will be safer because of it:</p>
<p>You can write the Secretary here:</p>
<p>Tom Vilsack, Secretary</p>
<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture</p>
<p>1400 Independence Ave. SW</p>
<p>Washington, DC 20250</p>
<p><a href="mailto:agsec@usda.gov">agsec@usda.gov</a></p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/Fzlu1kJenCk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/why_the_secretary_of_agricultu.htmlWhat does the Republican Party have against elephants?tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2014:/blogs/awetzler//50.171022014-07-08T22:58:54Z2014-07-09T17:34:23ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>Every once and a while, House Republicans really make me scratch my head. I&rsquo;m used to the endless anti-environmental &ldquo;riders&rdquo; attached to bills that fund the federal government, just one part of a systematic assault on environmental protection that has come to characterize the GOP of late. And I&rsquo;m accustomed to many of those riders being directed at wildlife conservation. So the fact that Congressional Republicans want uses their budget-setting authority to block the Fish and Wildlife Service from protecting endangered species like the Valley Elderberry longhorn beetle or sage grouse came as no big surprise. Don&rsquo;t get me wrong, these are terrible ideas, but not terribly surprising ones. But when Congressional Republicans <a href="http://thehill.com/regulation/211578-interior-funding-bill-targets-ivory-regulations">come out</a> against regulating the trade in elephant ivory? Well, that&rsquo;s something new.</p>
<p><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2014/07/GOP elephant cartoon-16684.html"><img src="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/assets_c/2014/07/GOP elephant cartoon-thumb-225x242-16684.gif" alt="GOP elephant cartoon" width="225" height="242" class="mt-image-none" align="left" /></a>As many people know, African elephant populations are in crisis. Over the last two years 50,000 African elephants have been killed by poachers. The problem has grown so alarming -- and the trade in ivory so profitable -- that many experts now view the illegal ivory trade as a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/opinion/the-white-gold-of-jihad.html?_r=0">national security problem</a>, because its profits are often used to fund militant groups.</p>
<p>Ivory is difficult to accurately date.&nbsp; So, while it&rsquo;s technically illegal to sell ivory in the United States that is not antique or was imported after 1989, surveys have repeatedly found that illegal &ldquo;blood ivory&rdquo; continues to be sold in the U.S. by unethical merchants who simply lie about their items age or provenance. The legal market in ivory, therefore, facilitates poaching.</p>
<p>The solution, of course, is the end the commercial market in ivory goods entirely and this past February the Obama Administration <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/epepper/us_limits_ivory_sales.html">announced</a> it would be proposing new rules to do just that.&nbsp; The exact scopes of those regulations aren&rsquo;t fully known yet, but we expect the U.S. to propose largely ending the importation of ivory into the United States and further restricting exports. In fact, the Obama Administration has already issued <a href="http://www.fws.gov/international/travel-and-trade/ivory-ban-questions-and-answers.html">orders</a> clamping down on most commercial imports.</p>
<p>Not if Congressional Republicans have their way. Tucked into the House&rsquo;s proposed appropriations <a href="http://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bills-113hr-sc-ap-fy2015-interior-subcommitteedraft.pdf">bill</a> for Department of Interior (see p. 59 for those of you following along at home) is a provision that would stop the Department from issuing or enforcing regulations that &ldquo;prohibits or restricts the importation of ivory&rdquo; into the U.S. or &ldquo;the possession, sale, delivery, receipt, shipment, or transportation of ivory&rdquo; that has been lawfully imported.</p>
<p>That&rsquo;s a sweeping prohibition -- essentially, an endorsement of past practices. But past practices don't work. The bodies of 50,000 dead elephants are grim testimony to that fact. Maybe it&rsquo;s the <a href="http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/fact-sheets/2014/ivory-ban-fact-sheet.aspx?s=%22Commerce%22&amp;st=&amp;ps=">opposition</a> from the National Rifle Association who (I kid you not) are worried about the ivory grips on their members' fancy pistols.&nbsp; Whatever the reason, the Grand Old Party certainly isn&rsquo;t the party of elephants anymore, no matter what its mascot is.</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/_CKAwToNoHg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/what_does_the_republican_party.htmlTime to Protect Our Wildest Places From One Of Our Deadliest Poisonstag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2014:/blogs/awetzler//50.169722014-06-10T17:30:00Z2014-06-12T19:26:53ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
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<p><img src="http://www.new-jersey-leisure-guide.com/image-files/cape-may-national-wildlife-sign.jpg" alt="National Wildlife Refuge sign (New Jersey)" title="National Wildlife Refuge sign (New Jersey)" width="250" height="385" class="image-left" /></p>
<p>Today the Humane Society of the United States and NRDC, along with 10 other organizations, <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2014/06/petition_end_lead_ammunition_061014.html">filed a legal petition</a> to ban the use of lead ammunition in our National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. NRDC has worked to prohibit the use of lead ammunition <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/get_the_lead_out.html">for years</a> for one simple reason: lead is toxic. And when hunters use lead ammunition, they expose any animal that subsequently feeds on any remains left in the field to a deadly poison.&nbsp; One hundred and thirty different species in the United States are exposed to lead every year, including millions of birds, like eagles and <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/get_the_lead_out.html">condors</a>. Studies have even show <a href="http://www.peregrinefund.org/subsites/conference-lead/PDF/0121%20Rogers.pdf" target="_blank">elevated lead levels in Yellowstone grizzly bears' blood</a> during hunting season.</p>
<p>Lead is also completely unnecessary. Alternatives ammunition (mostly copper and copper alloy bullets) are now widely available for virtually all firearms -- and are equal to or <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/movement_towards_leadfree_ammu.html">superior</a> in performance compared to bullets made from lead.</p>
<p>And if you&rsquo;re not completely convinced, let&rsquo;s not forget about the impact on human health.&nbsp; Lead bullets can fragment badly when they strike an animal, often leaving tiny toxic pieces of lead scattered throughout meat.&nbsp; Consistently serving lead-shot game to, especially to children, <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/pdfs/health/Human_Health_Risks_from_Lead_Ammunition.pdf">simply isn&rsquo;t safe</a>.&nbsp; That&rsquo;s why California <a href="http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/legislation/california-enacts-first-statewide-lead-ammo-ban.html">completely banned</a> the use of lead ammunition last year.</p>
<p>So why are we allowing hunters to use lead ammunition on 160 million acres of National Parks and Wildlife Refuges?&nbsp; Of all the places in the United States, our National Parks and Wildlife Refuges should try the hardest to protect its wildlife.&nbsp; The time has come: let&rsquo;s get the lead out of America&rsquo;s most treasured wild places.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Coincidentally, managers of a Fish and Wildlife Refuge just released the results of a large survey of bald eagle mortalities in the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.radioiowa.com/2014/06/11/researchers-find-link-between-lead-ammunition-and-bald-eagle-deaths/">Here </a>is what they found:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ed Britton, the manager of the Savanna District of the refuge says they collected 168 dead eagles found in the refuge that stretches across Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.</p>
<p>Britton says they were surprised by the results after having the livers of the birds tested. &ldquo;We were just doing a research study to find out if there was a relationship and 48-percent of the livers came back showing detectable lead concentrations. And 21-percent came back with lethal levels &mdash; meaning lead poisoning,&rdquo; Britton says.</p>
<p>Researchers determined that eagles feed on piles of internal organs, known as gut piles, left behind by hunters preparing the deer in the field. They studied 25 such piles behind in a Savana area after a managed hunt and found lead fragments in all of the piles. &ldquo;It ranged from one to 107 fragments per pile,&rdquo; Britton says. &ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a lot of lead particles in a gut pile.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And meanwhile, hunters in California are <a href="http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/local/2014/06/11/local-hunters-warm-non-lead-ammo/10305549/">increasingly warming</a> to non-lead ammunition, recognizing its superior performance and increased safety.&nbsp; So come on, Department of Interior, what are you waiting for?</p>
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/switchboard_awetzler/~4/VyT2j3ttcmo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/time_to_protect_our_wildest_pl.htmlHappy Endangered Species Daytag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2014:/blogs/awetzler//50.168392014-05-16T16:55:34Z2014-05-16T17:50:10ZAndrew Wetzler
<p>Andrew Wetzler, Director, Land & Wildlife Program, Chicago</p>
<p>Today is Endangered Species Day. Going through the routines of our life, swaddled by technology, it's easy to think of the world as a familiar and well-known place. But it's not.&nbsp; We share this planet with a dazzling array of life, some of which <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/13/new-species-of-yellow-jellyfish-spotted-in-north-adriatic-sea-last-year-has-since-disappeared-scientists/">we discover</a> with astonishing regularity.&nbsp; As Virginia Morell recently <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140223-morell-animal-wise-animals-science-book-award/">put it</a>: "What an amazing world we live in, to be surrounded by all these other minds."&nbsp;</p>
<p>But too many plants and animals <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/01/elizabeth-kolbert-sixth-extinction_n_5245286.html">now hover on the verge of oblivion</a>. They need our help, usually from people themselves. That's why we have laws like the Endangered Species Act. It is the existence of those laws in which lies one of humanity's <a href="http://tanystropheus.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/aldo-leopolds-on-a-monument-to-a-pigeon/">greatest legacies</a>.&nbsp; And the fact that the Endangered Species Act exists--that people, as Aldo Leopold <a href="http://tanystropheus.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/aldo-leopolds-on-a-monument-to-a-pigeon/">said</a>, can morn the loss of their pigeons--is one of my greatest sources of hope.</p>
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